Rapist Murray's pier walks with blonde woman

DUBLIN'S most dangerous rapist has found love.

Serial rapist Michael Murray (51) was spotted with a female companion enjoying a walk by twilight at Dun Laoghaire pier on Tuesday evening.

"The blonde woman was in her 30s and they looked very much in love -- she surely can't have any idea of this man's past," a source explained.

The couple were dressed casually and were engaged in deep conversation when seen by our source.

It is the first public sighting of depraved sex beast Murray for months and it is believed that he has been living in the Ballsbridge area for over a year where his activities are closely monitored by gardai.

caged

Murray was released from jail in July 2009 after being caged since 1996 for raping four women and sexually assaulting two others in south Dublin during a six-day period in September, 1995.

Eighteen months before his rape conviction, Murray received a four-month sentence for indecently exposing himself to a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy after walking into the back garden of a house in Dun Laoghaire.

He received only a minor sentence for this and on his release returned to the house in Sallynoggin where he lived with his mother where he was free to continue with his reign of terror.

His first rapes took place in Dalkey, Killiney and Monks-town, but he then began to move out of the area of the initial attacks.

His next victim was in Rathmines, where he attacked and stabbed a girl who had just left her boyfriend in Donnybrook.

It was when gardai in Dun Laoghaire heard about the attacks that they contacted detectives in Donnybrook and the investigation turned back towards Dun Laoghaire.

The fact that Murray had the conviction for exposing himself to the children and was a known sex offender led detectives to target him.

After days of surveillance, he was spotted returning to his mother's house and was arrested.

He was eventually sentenced to 18 years but with standard remission served only 13.

Senior detectives expressed major concern when Murray was once again free to prowl the streets in 2009.

One officer with background knowledge of the sex offender told The Herald that he would classify Murray as "equally dangerous" as suspected serial killer and fellow rapist Larry Murphy.

Like Murphy, Murray refused to take part in any rehabilitation programmes during his jail term.

brazen

After his release from Castlerea Prison in Co Roscommon, Murray lived at a number of addresses in Dublin including Smithfield and Findlater Street in the northside before eventually settling in the Ballsbridge area.

His movements are watched by gardai and collated on the garda Pulse system. He has not been involved in any crime since his release.

In June 2010, the brazen serial rapist went to the High Court to complain about media coverage about him but the court refused to grant him an injunction preventing a number of newspapers from publishing his address and pictures of him.